49ers streaking into the playoffs: Why Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco look primed to break Super Bowl drought

The San Francisco 49ers have entered the chat as a serious Super Bowl contender this season. Anxious to end their 30-year drought without a championship, the 49ers are once again streaking at the right time under coach Kyle Shanahan coming out of Sunday night's thrilling 42-38 victory over the Chicago Bears. 

With no clear-cut Super Bowl favorite, is this the year Shanahan's group can finally break through?

Quarterback Brock Purdy is playing at an elite level, akin to 2023 when he led the NFL in passer rating and propelled the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance, and San Francisco (12-4) has put itself in position to garner top-seed billing in the NFC with a win over the Seattle Seahawks (13-3) during a Week 18 showdown with the NFC West crown on the line.

Shanahan's teams — at least during the five seasons the 49ers have qualified for the playoffs over his nine-year tenure — are adept at hitting their stride in crunch time. Outside of an injury-marred 6-11 finish last fall, the 49ers are 30-6 from Nov. 1 onward during the regular season since 2021, including a 7-1 mark during that stretch this season.

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Highlighted by six consecutive wins entering Saturday's home finale against the Seahawks with a first-round bye on the line, the 49ers are humming offensively and it all starts with Purdy's confidence level. Since missing eight games with a toe injury before returning on Nov. 16 with a three-touchdown performance against the Arizona Cardinals, Purdy's unbeaten and has 11 touchdown passes with two interceptions over his last three starts.

"I thought Brock had a hell of a game, again," Shanahan said Sunday after his quarterback's second consecutive five-touchdown outing. "Brock's been playing his ass off, made some huge plays in this game, kept some drives alive with his legs, made some off-schedule plays, and was an assassin out there throughout the whole day."

Can 49ers navigate wide open NFC playoff field?

According to DraftKings Sportsbook's latest Super Bowl odds, the 49ers (+950) have the fifth-best shot to win it all. San Francisco's 9-2 record this season against conference competition is the best in the NFC, too.

The 49ers are 0-2 under Shanahan in Super Bowl appearances with both losses coming to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. With that franchise's nine-year streak of winning the AFC West and getting to the postseason now over, the door's open for the 49ers if they're able to find a way past the Los Angeles Rams (+475) and Seahawks (+500), two NFC teams who currently own slightly better odds to win it all, as well as the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (+1000). 

Shanahan's 8-4 playoff record with San Francisco includes losses to the Rams and Eagles during the 2021 and 2022 NFC Championship Games along with the two aforementioned setbacks in the Super Bowl. However, advancing deep into the postseason is always the expectation since he has never lost a wild-card or divisional playoff game (6-0).

Purdy would likely be in the NFL MVP conversation right now if not for missing eight games with injury after catching fire over the second half of the campaign. After Purdy dialed up a 24-of-33, 303-yard performance against the Bears, Shanahan was asked if it was the best he has seen him play over his four-year career.

"I don't know. I'm not the best historian," Shanahan said. "I feel like he's had some good stretches. I mean, especially going back to '23 and '22. But I mean, he's playing as good as it gets right now."

As good as Purdy's been, San Francisco's defense came up with the defining stop against the Bears after Caleb Williams put Chicago in position to win the game in the final moments. His pass from the 2-yard line as time expired short-hopped Jahdae Walker in the end zone in the face of pressure.

"For them to finish out the game like that, I was so happy for them. I was sitting there not being able to do anything but watch," Purdy said. "To be able to celebrate was a cool team win. There's nothing like that. It was pretty special."

A Super Bowl at home?

If San Franciso beats Seattle, the 49ers clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and would need only two wins to reach Super Bowl XL, which, coincidentally, will be played at Levi's Stadium -- the 49ers' home stadium -- on Feb. 8, 2026.

Only two NFL teams — the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 2021 Rams — have won Super Bowls inside their home stadiums.

"We've earned this," Shanahan said Sunday. "This is the game that we want. We love that it's here. We love an opportunity to never leave here again this year and we've got that opportunity Saturday night."